Isn’t it said that all exchange student activities are conducted within Cornell University? Xiao Xian wandered outside the egg-shaped building, full of doubts.
Standing outside the oval building, she noticed the sign reading "Cornell University’s affiliated Life Sciences Research Center" on the egg-like structure. This could somewhat explain why she had been assigned to a research center, although it was slightly more remote pared to other branch centers.
Whether remote or not didn’t really matter, as long as she could achieve a passing grade in her personal evaluation.
Now, Xiao Xian could only hope that Dr. Locke at this peculiar research center was an easy-going person since her performance over the next three months would entirely depend on his judgment.
Late April, the sunlight was just right, and wispy, smoke-like clouds floated in the sky. Beneath the thriving vines, the walls of the research center made of tempered glass were faintly visible.
The exterior walls of the egg-shaped research center were covered with ivy from which fresh, red leaves had just sprouted. Several partridges landed on the ivy, attempting to peck the tender leaves, but suddenly flew away startled, as some tendrils wound around them during their pecking, causing them to flee in fright without further thought of food.
"These vines can move, somewhat resembling the Vincetoxicum fern," Xiao Xian observed her surroundings and noted that the research center wasn’t overly remote. Michael had driven for about an hour, and there’s a bus stop half a kilometer away.
Although standing outside the research center, Xiao Xian had largely determined that it’s primarily focused on plant cultivation, and the plants inside weren’t ordinary varieties.
This was just fine, as Xiao Xian preferred interacting with rare plants over tending to poppies. Little did she know, years ago, Zhou Ziang had encountered the same situation.
Except he arrived at the center during a severe winter with heavy snow.
Without snow weighing down the vines, their activity intensified under the fortable spring temperature. The climbing vines at the entrance seemed like children playing hide-and-seek, alternating between wide open smiles and tightly closed lips, leaving Xiao Xian at the entrance uncertain whether to enter or wait for the recruiting doctor to e out.
The owner of the research center where Xiao Xian found herself was, by coincidence, Dr. Locke, who had collaborated with Zhou Ziang for several years. After absorbing Zhou Ziang as a Senior Researcher, Locke clashed with Celeste and others among the upper echelons, leading to a project being abruptly halted by Celeste as a means of threatening Zhou Ziang. This enraged Locke, prompting him to leave Meng Mountain’s headquarters and return to the self-built research center, declaring he’d never again conduct new crop variety research for Meng Mountain. His actions also angered Meng Mountain’s higher-ups, who under Celeste’s instigation, replaced a large number of experimental assistants, leaving Locke to manage alone and reducing his research funds to a third.
Locke was stubborn, willing to work alone if he must. However, the center’s scale was such that he couldn’t handle it alone. Thus, he leveraged the proximity to Cornell University to issue an assistant recruitment notice.
The announcement, due to Locke’s international reputation, quickly attracted nearly a hundred relevant students for recruitment.
Locke, feeling smug, selected ten people. Unfortunately, the success was short-lived—on the first day, five left, and by the second day, three more walked out. Of the last two, one disappeared without a word after a month, while the other was injured due to research needs and is currently still lying in the Ithaca City Hospital.
Of course, Xiao Xian was pletely unaware of these vigorous recruitment records. If not for Michael’s personal connection with Locke, he wouldn’t have thought to bring Xiao Xian, a different cultivator, here.
"Seems like no one will e guide me in," Xiao Xian waited about ten minutes, sensing Michael, the deputy dean, hadn’t informed anyone about it.
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